Coupeville Sports

Joey Lippo

Several Coupeville players are playing fall baseball up in Oak Harbor, and fellow blogger Joe Lippo contributed the following report from the first game of the season:

There was to be no Fall baseball in Coupeville.

Or South Whidbey, for that matter.

Only in the frigid North could you find baseball, so sluggers loaded up the sled dogs and headed for Oak Harbor to join their Junior League Fall Ball team.

Soon after, they found themselves called into action at Volunteer Field against the Anacortes squad.

Clay Reilly (2 for 2) was the first Coupeville player to get on the board with a solid single, just out of reach of the Anacortes second baseman.

He quickly stole second. An Oak Harbor player advanced him to third, and this is also where the scoring began, when Reilly was sent across the plate on an errant pickoff attempt to first base.

Third baseman Ethan Marx (1 for 1, walk) added a walk and a single.

Solid play at second base by Johnathan Thurston (0-1, walk) and at catcher by Reilly helped with preventing Anacortes from starting anything.

Joey Lippo (1 for 1, walk), in his Junior League debut, contributed a single and two scores.

At one point, Coupeville players filled the infield on defense, with Reilly at third, Lippo at short and Thurston at second. Not very much got through this speedy trio, and the score climbed to 13-3 at the middle of the fifth frame.

In what was to be the last inning due to the ten-run rule, Lippo made a long run from the shortstop position to flag down a roller behind second base and fired a laser beam to first for the out, eliciting oohs and ahs from both fan bases.

Oak Harbor pitching, after allowing a single and a walk, retired the last two Anacortes batters to seal the victory.

So, on a Friday the 13th filled with woe, a small bright spot from the North shines on Coupeville.